Gorgeous Cyborg Faces Assassins in Sci-Fi Short ROSA

Bunkered for months in his Barcelona basement, equipped only with computers and a vivid imagination, DIY filmmaker Jesús Orellana emerged after a year of solitary labor to deliver 2011’s most dazzling sci-fi short.

ROSA follows the brief life and bloody death of a gorgeous Halle Berry-meets-Trinity-meets-Neytiri cyborg who wanders through a dystopian steampunk landscape, scanning the strange frontier for danger.

Butterflies and flowers explode out of nowhere, as do scythe-bearing assassins. ROSA’s fight for survival leads her to an intricately detailed fantasy rainforest. The lush setting brings to mind Avatar’s Pandora, but instead of spending several million bucks on visual effects, 29-year-old comic book artist Orellana made the entire film for a grand total of $99.

Following its world premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival, ROSA played Screamfest, Toronto After Dark, Anima Mund and Sitges International Film Festival. The short is now being developed as a live-action motion picture by I Am Sports & Entertainment partners Raymond Brothers and Scott Glassgold.

The Los Angeles producers signed on as Orellana’s managers after spotting the film online, Glassgold told Wired.com in an e-mail.

“Raymond and I were blown away by Jesus’ filmmaking acumen and extraordinary visuals,” he said. “When we learned that he made this short for literally no money and entirely by himself, the immensity of his talent became clear.”

Orellana arrives in Hollywood later this month to discuss future plans for ROSA with producers, agents and studios.

“Jesus’ vision for the feature-length version is to keep the same sweeping scope and style but do it on a very low budget, like Kiriya’s Goemon,” said Glassgold.

Check out the 10-minute short film, embedded above, and comment below: Would you like to see a feature-length version of ROSA?